Robin McKinley, author of "Beauty," "Spindle's End" and other retellings of classic fairy tales, offers a more adult story of forbidden attraction in Sunshine (Berkley; 390 pages; $23.95).

After a young pastry baker known as Sunshine is kidnapped one night by a band of vampires, she is shackled in an abandoned mansion as bait for another imprisoned bloodsucker. Sunshine manages to gain the trust of Constantine, her fellow captive, but even though they eventually escape the mansion, their problems are far from over.

The rogue vampires allied against Constantine don't give up easily, and neither do the members of the Special Other Forces, the half-demonic police who hunt bloodsuckers and anyone who sides with them. Sunshine attempts to resume her old life among her friends at the coffeehouse, but she finds herself in the awkward position of being under the suspicion of the SOF while secretly wanting to assist Constantine. She also learns that her family has been keeping secrets from her and that her bloodline is more complicated than she ever imagined.

In "Sunshine," McKinley delivers a smart, funny, adult tale of suspense and romance. She doles out the supernatural aspects of the story with a judicious hand, giving the setting as much believability as possible. It's the sardonically appealing first-person voice of the protagonist, though, that makes this book special. With a number of intriguing plot possibilities to be explored, "Sunshine" is likely to spawn a sequel or two and open up an even wider readership for McKinley.

In The Dark (Tor; 382 pages; $25.95), editor Ellen Datlow delivers 16 ghost stories, each designed to frighten and unsettle the reader. The contributors include old hands at the horror game, like Ramsey Campbell and Tanith Lee, as well as such relative newcomers as Kelly Link and Daniel Abraham. No feel-good fantasies here.

Jack Cady transplants the spirit of Poe's "Fall of the House of Usher" to a small town in the Pacific Northwest in "Seven Sisters." Kathe Koja explores an otherworldly obsession that propels a performance artist into increasingly self-destructive acts in "Velocity." Kelly Link's "The Hortlak," set on the rim of the Ausible Chasm and involving zombies, a convenience store clerk with a suspicious supply of novelty pajamas and the ghosts of abandoned dogs, surely takes the prize as the volume's most bizarre and funny entry.

The strongest piece in the book may be Lucius Shepard's "Limbo," in which a man running from the mob finds a chance at redemption with a rock singer's abused wife. The story twists and loops through a number of disturbing revelations before arriving at a truly shattering conclusion.

Datlow, former fiction editor of Omni magazine and longtime co-editor of "The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror," remains one of the surest anthologists in the business, with catholic tastes, impeccable discernment and access to the top talent. "The Dark" offers a wide range of specters and approaches to them, from Jamesian subtlety to outright, no-bones-about-it horror shows. It's a good selection to dip into on long, winter nights.

In The X President (Bantam; 372 pages; $11.95 paperback) Philip Baruth, radio commentator and author of "The Dream of the White Village," presents an America on the verge of collapse from a devastating world war. It's the year 2055, and the former president whose initials are "BC" has reached the ripe old age of 109, only to spend his final days in disgraced obscurity. In addition to the sex scandal that led to his impeachment, BC bears the blame for the "Cigarette Wars" that have cost billions of human lives.

For historian Sal Hayden, acting as BC's official biographer is the opportunity of a lifetime, though one she doesn't expect to be filled with too many surprises. But when BC's presidential library in Little Rock is overrun by gun-wielding members of the National Security Council, Sal is conscripted into a conspiracy to alter the course of history through the judicious use of time travel. Against her will and better judgment, she becomes part of a team that intends to kidnap the 16-year-old BC on the eve of his influential meeting with another popular president.

"The X President" begins a little awkwardly, heavy on the exposition and just a bit too impressed with its own cleverness. Once Sal finds herself shanghaied by two operatives who call themselves "James Carville" and "George Stephanopoulos," however, the real fun begins. The action moves from Las Vegas in its Rat Pack heyday to Vermont in the mid-1990s, and Sal offers plenty of biting commentary while giving the outrageous story a human center.

No matter how you think history should view our most recent ex-president, Baruth's book delivers an engaging, action-filled adventure.